Police: Assailant escapes on scooter after attack

NORTHAMPTON — An 18-year-old Florence youth allegedly attacked a 17-year-old Tuesday afternoon near 51 Locust St. across from Cooley Dickinson Hospital and fled on a scooter before police arrived.

The assailant punched the alleged victim several times in the face, leaving him with a fractured bone in his eye socket, police said. The boy faded in and out of consciousness and was taken to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, according to police.

The teen was riding the scooter by a group of high school students around 2:45 p.m. when the boy who was attacked asked him if he could do tricks with the scooter, police said.

Police were able to identify the alleged assailant and interviewed him a few hours later. He will be summoned to Northamp-ton District Court on a charge of aggravated assault and battery.